BARBARA HERSHEY
The actress, 65, plays Cora, the mother of the Evil Queen, on ABC’s Once Upon a Time (Sundays).
What drew you to this role? It’s a really inventive show, and I’ve always loved fairy tales. It’s fun to wave your hand and have someone fly across the room! Do you have a favorite fairy tale? I’m addicted to the entire Oz book series by L. Frank Baum, who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. They were always my favorites as a kid. Are you still in touch with your Beaches costar, Bette Midler? We’ve lost contact in the last few years because she moved to New York and I’m in L.A., but I love her and consider her a friend. When she was living in L.A., we’d go to restaurants, and it was fun to see people do double takes when they saw us together! That 1988 movie has become a classic. Did you know it was special when you were making it? I knew it was a rare thing to have a film about the friendship between women. It’s crucial for little girls growing up to know that friendships between women are important.
Q: If Shaquille O’Neal could go up against any basketball player today, who would it be?
—Randy Foster, Nev.
A: “I would have loved to play LeBron James when I was younger,” the fourtime NBA champion says of his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate. “His basketball IQ is phenomenal.” The now-retired b-baller will serve as a studio analyst for tonight’s NBA All-Star Game on TNT. “Every now and then I have to realize I’m not playing anymore and put myself in fan mode,” adds O’Neal, 40. Which NBA greats (past or present) would you like to see go one-on-one? Share at Parade.com/bball.
Q: I love Joel McHale on Community. What was college like for him? —Don Schwartz, Austin, Tex.
A: The actor, who stars as a fast-talking lawyer forced to go back to school at Greendale Community College on the NBC comedy (Thursdays), received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington in 1995. “I loved the subject, but it’s not like you can open a history shop!” says McHale, 41. “I wasn’t a very focused student. It was a fun time and a good experience, but I mostly wanted to be an actor, so I devoted a lot of my time to that.”
Q: Has Ellie Goulding kept in touch with Prince William and Kate Middleton since she sang at their wedding reception?
—Allison H., New York City
A: “No, but I was thinking about sending them my album [ Halcyon] because they’re very special fans,” , says the British pop star, 26, who performed a cover of Elton John’s “Your Song” for the couple’s first dance. “They’re very sweet and sent me letters afterwards to thank me,” the “Anything Can Happen” singer says. “I never thought in a million years I’d step inside Buckingham Palace, let alone perform for the royal family.”
Q: What inspired Jane Fonda’s first workout video? —K. G., Whittier, Calif.
A: “My main form of exercise had been ballet until I broke my foot in my 40s, and I had to start doing what became the Jane Fonda workout,” says the star, 75. “I had no idea that video would launch a whole industry!” Enter for a chance to win a signed copy of the original fitness guru’s latest video, Jane Fonda Prime Time AM/ PM Yoga for Beginners, at Parade.com/fonda.